Catherine Bradley, a junior at Coronado High School, recently broke the school's oldest girls' swim record - the 29-year-old 200-yard breastroke mark.
“I've been looking at it (the record) since my freshman year,” Bradley said this week. “I felt really good about being up with the other girls (who've set school
records).”
She set the mark of 1:11.87 at the Pueblo Hornet Invitational Jan. 20. The former school best for that event (1:12.70) had been established in 1978 by Naomi
Putman, according to the record board at the CHS pool.
Bradley is from Australia. She and her mother Carolyn, who is married to Tim Hobson, relocated to the Westside about 3 ˝ years ago.
CHS athletic director Dave Howard, as well as girls' swim coach Karen Busovsky, lauded Bradley for her dedication and hard work. In addition to winning all but
one dual meet this year, the student is academically among the top 20 in her class at school.
“It doesn't happen that often (a record lasting so long),” Busovsky said, pointing out the only other “old” record for a CHS swim event goes back 20 years, with all
the others having been set since 2000.
However, she added, Bradley's achievement was initially lost in the excitement, because her time had qualified her for post-season state competition. “She's the first
person we qualified for state this year,” Busovsky said. “And then we realized, oh my gosh, the record's gone.”
Bradley said she is also hoping to qualify for state in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle.